Social Environment and Suicide Prevention in LGBT Youth

On Monday, the Los Angeles Times covered a recent study in the journal Pediatrics that found that LGBT youth are at much higher risk for attempting suicide than their heterosexual peers (22% vs 5%). We have known this for a long time. However, this study offers new information about how the social environment contributes to this risk. A supportive, positive environment (such as schools with anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies and gay/straight alliances) was significantly associated with fewer suicide attempts among LGBT youth. In fact, these supportive environments were also associated with fewer suicide attempts among heterosexual youth.

Supportive environments in schools may reflect the broader supportive environments of the communities in which these youth live. As part of a broad, multi-level approach to suicide prevention, it is important to consider community - and school-level policies and programming - that will lend to a more supportive enviroment for LGBT youth.

For more information on suicide prevention for LGBT youth, visit: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

New guidelines released today for reporting on suicide

New guidelines for journalists reporting on suicide were released today as a combined effort of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), and Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE). This report and other information is available at http://reportingonsuicide.org/.

According to SAVE executive director Dan Reidenberg, "Research shows that one of the best ways to prevent suicide is through safe media reporting. So in developing these recommendations, it was vital to work not only with suicide prevention experts, but also journalists to create a useful, straightforward tool that reporters and news media organizations can turn to when reporting on suicide."

A primary recommendation of this report is to include suicide warning signs and what to do if you know someone exhibiting any warning sign in these stories. Since the outset of STRIDES, one of our goals has been to increase awareness about suicide prevention. We hope that by reducing the stigma of talking about suicide prevention through media and community-level outreach, individuals who are in need of help will feel more comfortable and supported in doing so.

To see a list of suicide warning signs and suggestions for how you can help, visit their website here: http://reportingonsuicide.org/warning-signs-of-suicide/.

Recap on West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference

Ashley and I had such a wonderful time at the West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference. Hundreds of women with unique experiences and backgrounds came to the conference at Plummer Park in West Hollywood to talk about making change and being empowered leaders in our communities.

We sat on a panel titled, "Get Your Passion Off the Ground: Creating Your Own Community Event, Project, or Campaign, " and were joined by a diverse group of women taking leadership within their communities. Other panelists included: Tatum de Roeck (Founder, Hiking Hunnies), Donna Feinstein (Founder, West Hollywood Saturdays in the Park) and Megan Hobza (Founder, Whittier Time Bank). Chenese Lewis was moderator for the panel, and is herself a leader in the community as President of the Hollywood Chapter of the National Organization for Women.

It was such a pleasure meeting everyone on the panel, and exciting to talk about STRIDES with a group of motivated and empowered women! Ashley and I were both inspired by the women on the panel, as well as conference attendees we met before and after the panel. We can't wait to get out there and expand the STRIDES program and share the STRIDES message that suicide is preventable!

West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference

Not long after the fall season of STRIDES, Anne and I got an invitation to be panelists at the West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference, which is being held this weekend - April 9-10. We feel honored to be a part of this exciting event and will be presenting on a panel titled "Get your passion off the ground: Creating your own community event, project, or campaign." Other panels include learning to be an effective advocate, PR and marketing strategies, and changing careers, among others.

We're not only eager to share lessons learned throughout the development and implementation of STRIDES with dynamic women in our community, but also to learn from others with established programs as we move STRIDES forward next year.

You can register for or learn more about the conference here: West Hollywood Women's Leadership Conference. We'll have updates on what we learned and what we shared with other participants next week.

Spring Season Is Underway!

I stopped by Olympic Continuation High School (OHS) today and received some wonderful feedback about the STRIDES program from Marcia Gecht, the amazing health teacher who has opened up her classroom to STRIDES. She shared that one of our fall 2010 participants was like a "new student" after participating in the STRIDES program. Ms. Gecht explained that the student is more confident and attends classes nearly every day now.

Her feedback means a lot to us. I was at the school collecting questionnaire data so we can track the effectiveness of our program. However, these questionnaires don't always tell us much of a story. What really matters is the stories like the one shared by Ms. Gecht, that demonstrate the need for a program like STRIDES and the impact a program like this one can have on students.

Fall 2010 participants have been invited to participate in the spring season, and several are excited to join us. We are hoping they will take on a leadership role and lead stretching and running activities while motivating other STRIDES participants to reach their goals.

STRIDES Spring Season officially begins on Monday, March 28! We are so excited to help OHS students train for a 5k while sharing and practicing strategies for building self-esteem and setting and achieving goals. We could still use your help. If you or anyone you know has women's size 6 running shoes, we actually need a couple pairs! We will know soon what other sizes we'll need. Email us at STRIDESLA@gmail.com for an address to send shoes. Thank you for your continued support!

Gearing up for spring semester!

We're excited to announce that we're gearing up to implement STRIDES again at Olympic High School during spring semester! Additionally, we're currently looking for UCLA graduate students to continue this program next year. We'll be holding an info session about the application process for these positions on Wednesday, February 9 at 5pm in the Center for Health Sciences at UCLA (exact location TBD).


Although it's likely that both of us will be leaving Los Angeles this summer, we want to be sure that STRIDES can be sustained by other UCLA students when we're gone. Once we've established the process of training STRIDES coaches, our goal is to bring this positive youth development program to other U.S. cities. Using the knowledge and passion of public health students, we can foster a movement that strives to increase community awareness that suicide is preventable.

All photos from the fall 2010 STRIDES Community 5k Run/Walk.

STRIDES Community 5k Run/Walk Results

Finisher Number	Time	First Name	Last Name
1	18:24	David	Louvet
2	18:25	Travis	Meyers
3	18:43	Robert	Ota
4	20:47	Robert	Levin
5	21:04	Chris	Opfell
6	22:24	Brian	DeLowe
7	22:33	Diana	Hossfeld
8	22:35	Stephen	Hagerman
9	22:42	Matthew	Beymer
10	22:52	Ali	Arastu
11	22:55	Luis	Flores
12	23:39	James	Lee
13	23:40	Charles	Clarke
14	23:48	Michelle	Pham
15	23:54	Amanda	Riddle
16	24:21	Julia	Pratt
17	24:30	Joseph	Carpenter
18	24:59
19	25:19	Joe	Ledford
20	25:19	Mark	Harris
21	25:32	Scot	Forbes
22	25:48	Oscar	Perez
23	25:48	Abbie	Haigh
24	25:50	Henry	Ota
25	25:57	Christopher	Mason
26	26:00	Eva	Horn
27	26:12
28	26:25	Shai	Feldman
29	26:26	Micah	Effron
30	26:27	Nicole	Vayssier
31	26:28	Heather	Stephens
32	26:28	Jillianne	Whitfield
33	26:38	Roland	Palvolgyi
34	26:50	Katrina	Stearns
35	26:50	Jessica	Howard-Anderson
36	27:07	Katia	Vaisberg
37	27:10	Samantha	Wong
38	27:13	Nicole	VanGroningen
39	27:18	Frank	Aliganga
40	27:19	Morgan	Rich
41	27:19	Tarah	Griep
42	27:30	Karen	Strach
43	27:36	Sybil	Zachariah
44	27:56	Teresa	Curtis
45	27:56	Andrew	Curtis
46	28:06	Julia	Lippe-Klein
47	28:06	Lauren	Zatorski
48	28:09	Zachary	Koenig
49	28:10	Brenda	Brown
50	28:19	Kevin	Pierce
51	28:24	Maria	Koenig
52	28:47	Catherine	Forbes
53	29:52
54	30:32
55	30:27	Mariel	Witmond
56	30:27	Jonathan	Witmond
57	30:31	Marycarmen	Guzman
58	30:50	Amber	Tucker
59	30:51	David	Cawa
60	31:07	Vanessa	Villalpando
61	31:17	Jeff	Annon
62	31:25	Amanda	Baudo
63	31:40	Belle	Gerard
64	31:40	Jamie	Peisel
65	33:53	Elyse	Homel
66	33:53	Vincent	Vitale
67	33:55	Andrea	Lu
68	34:46	Juan Pablo	Carbonell
69	35:21	Joanna	Guzman
70	36:01	Kristin	Cribbs
71	36:26	Patty	Acuna
72	37:08	Lola	Alomo
73	37:12	Grace	Lee
74	37:53	Al	Hasson
75	37:54	Stephanie	Chen
76	38:06	Elizabeth	Nelson
77	38:07	Cassarah	Chu
78	38:08	Victoria	Cho
79	38:47	Kristal	Lemus
80	38:47	Lesley	Lemus
81	39:00	Heather	Achtziger
82	39:04
83	39:49
84	40:24	Joana	Gutierrez
85	40:24	Kia	Walker
86	40:25
87	40:26
88	40:46	Sean	Prendergast
89	41:55	Shannon	Snook
90	42:00
91	42:06
92	43:21	Kevin	Hoiseth
93	43:21	Courtnee	Draper
94	44:08	Alexander	Koenig
95	45:52	Carla	Cruz
96	45:53	Jessica	Davidman
97	46:47	Jennifer	Lamanski
98	46:47	Kimberly	Komatsubara
99	46:57	Julia	Caldwell
100	46:57	Jessica	Lowe
101	47:01	Patience	Afulani
102	47:01	Whitney	Welshimer
103	47:47	Erica	Lowe
104	47:47	Hailey	Winetrobe
105	47:48	Jacqueline	Fahey
106	47:51	Xochitl	Cordova
107	48:03	Arkeli	Johnson
108	48:03	Marcia	Gecht
109	49:22	Sue	Lavaccare
110	49:30	Deborah	Glik
111	49:30	Michael	Prelip
112	49:30	Susan	Lesser